Émilie-Rose
It all started in 2013 when my life completely changed. The word that defined me: “cheerleading”. My whole life revolved around this sport. I was even the captain of my team (great cliché to say) and aerobatics always took center stage, but it’s a dangerous sport. I have had several concussions, however, the last one was fatal for me. I never got over it, although today I still have a lot of after-effects. Usually, it takes ten days to recover; For my part, it took three months. From the slightest physical or cognitive effort, I would faint. I took a lot of tests given the abnormal situation and they ended up finding that I had... a brain tumor! I subsequently had two brain operations. These events left a lot of damage on the cheerful girl that I was. I had a huge depression, I developed a generalized anxiety disorder, I was followed in psychiatry for 7 years: I can tell you that dark thoughts were present in my mind for a long time.
The time came that I had to rebuild myself, so I turned to my second passion at that time, fashion. My dad introduced me to Gabrielle Desgagnés, the owner and designer of Jax n Joe. This event completely changed my life. To give me a taste for life again following my operations, she decided to organize a big professional photo shoot, with photographer Caroline Gérquoire, which received a lot of publicity. It was with this photo shoot that we won the Festival Québec Mode public choice photography and everything was published in Elle Québec magazine. This event led me to become a model. On the other hand, in Quebec City, there are not many contracts.
With the rise of social media in 2016, I realized that we didn't have to wait until we had a contract to take professional quality photos, we could take them ourselves and the reach could be much larger. So I knew straight away that there was something to be done with all of this. But what? It was in December 2016 when I was looking for a one-piece swimsuit for my trip during the holiday break that I noticed a glaring shortage in this market. I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit, probably passed down from my parents, each entrepreneur, and I decided to embark on this great adventure knowing what I wanted to offer, but without a clear idea of how to do it. So I started finding out from various suppliers, the laws in Canada, setting up a website, etc. It was officially on May 24, 2017 that Mimz was launched.
All this to tell you that everything happens for a reason. I even believe that if I hadn't had a concussion, I would still be in the front line: cheerleading passion. I probably wouldn't have met Gabrielle and started my business! So never see failure as an end, but as a new beginning, because life always has something good in store for you.